Hambourg, mon amour

The title perfectly rhymes. And so did my recent trip to Hamburg.

Click to enlarge

The official occasion was the 90th birthday of my classmate and friend Wulf on November 4. During his professional life, he taught Biology and German in High School. He must have been an excellent teacher because, at his birthday party, which took place in the Museum Village at Volksdorf, a Hamburg suburb, many of his former students honored him with musical or literary contributions.

Wulf doesn't like close-ups.
©UF took the photo during this year's class reunion on October 13.

We are still three of our former Abitur class, of which Helmut (in the middle) already celebrated his 90th on August 14, and I (on the right) will celebrate my milestone birthday, God willing, next year in June.

After Wulf retired, he practiced his knowledge of biology and the German language with his former classmates. The biking tours he organized are legendary. I documented them on my website. Thank you, Wulf.

Hamburg had many blissful moments.

On the way to High Mass in Hamburg's St. Mary's Cathedral: Be careful when stepping on a gay crosswalk that does not comply with traffic regulations. Look left and look right before crossing.

In front of the cathedral, we met St. Ansgar, who became archbishop of Hamburg in 831.

Click to enlarge

Our trip to Hamburg continued to revolve around churches. Here is a panorama showing the towers of the Hanseatic city as seen from the Neustadt (new town) in the second half of the 17th century. At that time, the single-towered old St. Mary's Cathedral still stood between St. Peter's and St. Catherine's Churches.

View of the renovated Great Michel.
The new copper cladding will take about 30 years to develop a patina.
No chance. That would make me 106.

We concentrated on Hamburg's Neustadt (new town) and its landmark, the Great Michel (Protestant). The new town was built over a plague cemetery laid out in 1600 to the west outside the city wall behind the large Alsterfleet* towards a fishermen's settlement on the Elbe River. The people of Hamburg considered the settlement all to nah (all too close). Altona is now part of Hamburg.

*The main canal between the Alster and Elbe Rivers

Shortly before the end of the Thirty Years' War, Hamburg's citizens eventually decided to build a parish church for the inhabitants of Neustadt. This church was consecrated as St. Michel's Church in 1661. Before, the people of the new town had to be content with an outside chapel of St. Nikolai.

The "Michel" burned down often, for the first time in 1750, so its original appearance bears no resemblance to today's baroque church.

Note the tower of Great St. Michel in the background (©Flavus Rabanus/Wikimedia)

Today's small St.Michel (Catholic) stands at the place of the former chapel. 

The church was destroyed during the war and rebuilt in 1955 in a sober style. It is dedicated to St. Ansgar and St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

Charlemagne, the founder of Hamburg, faces and watches the church entrance. As a sign of peace, he holds only the pommel of his sword in his right hand. In his left hand, the Great Charles carries a model of the Hammaburg, the initial refuge castle whose name has only been documented since 832.

Martin Luther, who else, watches over Great St. Michel.

Zitronejette, less known than water carrier Hummel, saw us leaving the church complex and insisted that we buy some of her citrons.

One highlight of the trip was attending the extraordinary performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Hamburg State Opera.

Crossing the Elbe River with a ferry to the island of Finkenwerder resulted in a culinary delight.We enjoyed the famous Finkenwerder Scholle. I had mine traditionally with roasted bacon cubes.

We lived through wonderful hours and days in Hambourg, mon amour.

*